Master's-Level Students’ Beliefs Concerning the Causes of Poverty, Implicit Racial Attitudes, and Multicultural Competency

The responses of 285 master's-level students were examined concerning the students’ multicultural competency, their color-blind racial attitudes, and their beliefs about the causes of poverty. Students who thought individuals were responsible for their own poverty reported lower multicultural competency, higher color-blind racial attitudes, and lower multicultural social desirability. Students who believed poverty is caused by societal factors self-rated lower in color-blind racism, lower in multicultural competency, and higher in multicultural social desirability.